Authors Note: I do not own any of the characters in this story. Also, this is my first fanfic. So it might be awful. Please Review with tips and suggestions!
Snow White stared at the beautiful white stallion slowly sinking deeper and deeper into the mud, tears pricking the edges of her eyes. She hated leaving the poor horse, not just because she hated death, but also because it had saved her. She could hear the queen's army getting closer and she finally forced herself to run. She ran deeper and deeper into the forest, each stride of her run becoming more and more desperate. Snow couldn't be caught by Ravenna's guards, couldn't let that awful queen have her heart. Suddenly the ground dipped down unexpectedly and snow tripped, falling hard. She landed in a strange patch of mushrooms that released a strange powder. Taking in a deep breath she inhaled much of the dust, it covered her throat and nose sending her into a coughing fit. It reminded her of when she was child sitting in the kitchen of the castle and after begging the cook she finally was given a small spoon of cinnamon to try and eat. But this was far worse, snow fell back onto the ground curling up and swallowing in attempt to rid her throat of the vile powder. Finally she stood up, only gently coughing now. Snow looked around the forest, suddenly she felt very dizzy and leaned on one of the trees, care full not to disturb the mushrooms again. But when she touched the tree, it seemed to slither under her hand. It was no tree! It was tower of snakes, hissing and glaring at her! Snow turned to run, but felt more and more dizzier, as she looked around she saw shadows floating and watching her, huge winged creatures came to life from the dead bushes. This couldn't be real she told herself, but it didn't seem like a fake. Snow White began to run again, despite how sick and exhausted she already felt. She looked around and saw more trees and branches to turn to snakes, and more shadows rise up to chase her. It seemed she was in one of her nightmares; the faster snow ran the more monsters seemed to chase her. Finally, from fatigue and the stress, Snow collapsed, unable to run any farther regardless of her mind screaming at her to run. As her eyes slowly forced themselves closed, she could see the snakes slithering back into trees and the shadows sinking to rest on the ground once more.
Huntsman point of view
Eric was suddenly awoken by ice cold water, his eyes flew open as he was pulled back out of a horses watering trough. He looked around confusedly at the men in dark armor, some riding atop strong black horses. Alcohol still clouding his mind, he vaguely remembered being in some fight, in some tavern, when the queens guards arrived. Then, the realization that it was the Queen Ravenna's guard standing around the watering trough hit him hard. He was in trouble, for whatever reason, whether it made sense or not, he was in trouble with the queen and was going to die. He could fell the guards pulling him up and dragging him towards the castle.
"Hey" Eric practically growled at the men in the black armor " I can walk". The guards released him, but prodded him with a spear to tell him to go. Eric glared at them before continuing. As they walked he silently wondered what he had done to get himself in this much of a mess. It could have been the bar fight, but why would the queen care about that. People were murdered every day out in the streets and she never so much as batted an eye. Or at least he didn't think she did. The guards forced Eric into the huge castle, until he was staring into the face of the queen. She was very beautiful Eric though, next to the throne stood Ravenna's hideous brother Finn.
"Kneel before your queen" Finn said to Eric.
Eric answered Finn angrily "I will not kneel, or bow before any witch". Eric had decided that if he was going to die he wanted to at least defy her. Finn nodded his head to the guards and they grabbed Erics shoulders, pushing him down, and kicking the backs of his knees so he couldn't help but kneel. Then one of the guards took hold of his head and shoved it down roughly, pain shot through his entire neck at this. To his amazement though the queen waved the guards off, Eric decided to stay kneeling so he wouldn't be shoved down again. The queen put her finger under his chin and slowly pulled his face up to meet hers. Eric tried to look away, causing Ravenna to hold his chin with her whole hand. Her skin was strange, it was not warm and soft, but instead cold and leathery, and it made Eric's skin crawl. He couldn't stand to look into her eyes. Her stare was worse than her touch; her blue eyes, so cold and unforgiving, sent shivers down his spine; it felt like the queen could see right through him. Eric waited for her to kill him, waited for her to do something that would stop his heart from beating. Then Queen let him go and turned around, quietly returning to her throne. Eric was shocked she had done nothing to him, he still couldn't look at her though, couldn't meet those cruel eyes.
"Huntsman" the queen said in an almost melodious voice "One of my prisoners has escaped into the dark forest; I want you to hunt the prisoner down and return them to me"
Eric laughed, "if he went into the forest than he is dead".
"She" the queen swiftly corrected.
Eric laughed harder "Then she" he said emphasizing the word "is certainly dead".
The queen stared at the ground for a moment, thinking "you will find her and return her to me".
Eric stopped chuckling and stared at the queen frowning "and if I refuse?" he asked. At that instant the guards surrounded him with spears once more, daring Eric to insult their precious queen once more. Eric glared at them before Ravenna's voice made him snap his head around to glare at her angrily.
"Find her for me and I will repay, greatly" the queen said sinisterly, "I will return to you, your beloved Sarah" The queen stared once again at Eric, who now stared at her stunned.
Eric mumbled to himself in disbelief for a few a moments before saying " I bring you th- this girl, and you bring back my wife for me" Eric asked, making sure he had heard this correctly.
"A life for a life" She said coldly.
Eric stared for few more moments than said loudly "I'll find her"
Eric, along with the guards that had escorted him to the castle and the queens brother Finn, arrived at the edge of the forest early that next morning. Eric quickly found boot prints, they were so small, he could tell immediately that they were from a women. He looked at the muck that acted as moat to the forest, it had consumed so many people, horses, animals, even most birds did not have the good fortune of escaping it.
Eric glanced at the men behind him and roughly said to them "she went this way, to get across you do exactly as I do" he started across the muck slowly, always testing his weight to make sure it wouldn't sink beneath him "and be quiet" he growled angrily to the noise behind him. Eric made it across long before any them would finish, so he continued his search for the girl. Her footprints were easy to follow thanks to the soft ground of the forest. Eric discovered that she had fallen into a patch of the forests mushrooms; he stepped carefully around them so they would not be disturbed and release the dust in them. He sighed thankful that she had fallen here. She would have breathed in much of the dust and might still be in the grip of the powerful hallucinations it caused when he found her. Than Eric could faintly hear the guards in the distance, attempting to make their way through the wood, to where he was. He cursed under his breath, hallucinating or not the girl would surely hear them and run away, than he would have to chase her, something Eric was not interested in. He turned following her trail once more, at much faster speed than before in attempt to get away from the guards. Eric knew it was around 11:00, he could tell by the position of the sun in the sky. He had found her, it had taken him longer than he had thought it would, she had run quite a good distance. She was still lying on the ground sleeping when he sat down next to her. The guards were far enough away where they were no threat, and finally got a chance to see what exactly he was handing back over to the queen. The girl was beautiful; of course all the women that the queen ever stole to keep in her castle were beautiful. But she was different. One could say her beauty almost rivaled that of the queen, with skin pale as snow, hair as black as raven's wing and lips and red as blossoming rose. Even with dirt covering her, and old worn out dress she wore he could see that she was truly beautiful. For a moment he felt a twinge of guilt, and wondered if his Sarah would want him to do this. The thought was quickly pushed out of Eric's mind as the girl slowly woke from the noise of the guards walking towards them.
Snow slowly waking up, when she heard something, it was footsteps, slowly coming closer to where she lay. She quickly sat up when someone grabbed her and roughly pulled her up. Snow stared into his face terrified; it was a huntsman, obviously sent by the queen to capture her. Snow struggled to twist her arm free of his iron grip as he dragged her to the queen's brother. The moment she met Finns gaze and his malicious smile she became even more fearful and tried more desperately to escape. Her sudden jump to get away took Eric by surprise and he had to drag the girl back to him, he stared at her for a moment, his heart sank when he saw how scared of Finn she was. What had done to her? He knew girls would act this way about the queen, but he had never heard of them being so scared of her brother,
"Well done huntsman" Finns disgusting voice broke the silence as he stared at the girl longingly "now, hand her over, we will take very good care of her from here" He said still smiling, his cheerful tone was sickening.
"What do you intend to do with her?" Eric asked looking from her to Finn. Eric saw that the girl closed her eyes when Finn started speaking, a tear falling from the corner of one.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with huntsman" Finn said smiling, "now hand her over".
Eric looked at the girl again, no Sarah would not want him to be doing this, "I want what I was promised first" he said. At this the girl opened her eyes and whispered to him "sh-she's a devil, you won't get what you where promised she will kill you after she kills me". Eric had turned his slightly towards her to hear, still keeping his eyes on the men though. He knew this girl was right, he knew he had foolishly trusted the queen on a promise she wouldn't keep, and most likely couldn't keep. No one could bring people back from the dead, and he knew it.
Finns voice brought Eric out of his thoughts; he stole one last glance at the girl, and saw her eyes were wide begging him to believe her.
"You will get what you deserve, I can promise you that" Finn smiled sinisterly as the guards surrounded the huntsman "you will die just like the girl, you see, not even my sister, powerful as she may be, can raise people from the dead". He chuckled, happy to see the pain of defeat on the huntsman's face.
Eric looked at the girl, he remembered that the queen wanted her alive for whatever reason, so he grabbed her pulling her up against his chest so that she was facing Finn. He put his huge axe up against her throat, careful to not do any damage, but making sure it touched her.
"I will kill her" He said to Finn. "If the queen wants her alive, what would she do to you if she found out she died on your watch?" Eric asked. Finn stopped smiling. With a wave of his the guards backed down, and slowly stepped away waiting for orders. Than Eric quietly whispered in the girls ear "As soon as I let you go, run". She was going to nod her in understanding, but then remembered the axe pressed tight against her throat and stopped herself from making the fatal mistake. Eric continued staring at Finn, but out of the corner of his eye he was watching the guards waiting for the right moment to strike. After the many wars he had been through he was an experienced fighter and knew that if waited just a few more seconds for the guards he would have the advantage. Then he let go of the girl, throwing her behind him, she got up a sprinted off into the woods. The guards were slow from the heavy armor and Eric quickly out maneuvered him in spite of his size. His huge axe crushing their armor. When Eric was dealing with the last the archer in the group aimed at the huntsman, but Eric had been expecting it. He wrestled the helmet off the guard and then turned around so the archer's arrow sunk deep into the guard's throat. Before the bowman knew what had happened Eric threw one of knives, sinking it deep into the archer's chest. Finn stared at the huntsman, horrified, he turned to run, but tripped over a tree root, falling straight into a patch of mushrooms. Eric pulled a small yellowed scarf from around his neck up over his mouth so he wouldn't breath in the dust, then walked away from the sick man rolling on the ground in horror.
Snow White was still running, as and as fast as she could, but she was still tired form running the entire day before, and still a bit sick after breathing in the putrid powder from the mushrooms. She stopped for a moment to lean on a tree and rest when, suddenly someone grabbed her, putting a hand over her mouth and pulling her towards them. It was the huntsman who had spared her life and let her run. Why had he come back? What was in it for him? He was leaning over her, and slowly removed his hand when he thought she had finally calmed down. Snow felt the huntsman slowly help her to sit on the ground and then watched as he slowly sat down a few feet away from her.
"Thank you" Snow had said it so quietly that Eric almost didn't hear it, she stared at him for another moment and then shyly looked away.
"You're welcome" Eric said roughly, Snow looked at him and smiled, something she hadn't done in ten years. The huntsman looked around the tree to examine something and snow took the chance to look at rescuer a bit more closely. She realized he was actually quite handsome, even with dirt smeared on him. He had long blonde hair that was tied in the back, but quite a bit of it fell down out of the tie. He had a light beard, and bright blue eyes. They were beautiful, bright warm, so unlike the hard, cold eyes of the queen and her brother. Snow suddenly realized the reason she could see his eye so well was because he was looking at her. The huntsman had caught Snow White staring at him and was giving her quizzical look. She quickly looked away from him, clearly embarrassed.
Eric broke the awkward silence "So, do you want to tell me why the queen is hunting you, and who are you?" He stared at her for a second, still amazed by her beauty. She was about to answer when Eric's well trained ears picked up on the sound of someone walking behind the tee he was resting on. He quickly stood up, causing snow white to go stiff. He grabbed a knife from his belt and carefully peered around the tree. Seeing no one he stepped around a little further so that part of his chests was showing, it was just enough. The archer from the group of guards quickly loosed an arrow into Eric's chest, but the leather belt he wore stopped it from going too deep. He turned back around the tree and, ignoring the shocked look on the girls face, pulled the arrow. Apparently his knife hadn't gone as deep into the archer as he thought. Eric heard footsteps coming closer to where he was sitting and he quickly stood up. The archer slowly walked into the clearing where Eric and snow were, Eric grabbed the archer and slit his throat with the knife, this time making sure he was dead. Eric looked at the girl, who turned away, covering her mouth on the verge of tears. He swiftly walked to her grabbing her elbow and pulling her away from the dead body.
It was getting late and the dark forest was the last place Eric wanted to spend the night, but it seemed like that was what he was going to be doing. He turned around to find the girl staring at him again.
"the queen wanted might heart" she said quietly, "that's why she is hunting me, but I don't know why she wants mine". Snow White turned away, and Eric stared at her for a moment, trying to make sense of everything that just happened and what she just told him.
"The edge of the woods is that way" Eric said pointing "about 4 more miles, I don't suggest walking it tonight though".
Snow stared at him for a moment "what way are you going?' she asked.
Eric looked her; he hadn't really thought about it, he couldn't go back otherwise the queen would kill him. "I don't know" he answered quite truthfully.
"I would like to go the Duke Hammonds castle, if you know where it is you could take me there and I am sure he would let you stay" Snow said quietly. She desperately hoped he would agree to take her there, she didn't know how to survive in the forest like he obviously did. Also, she just felt so much safer with him around.
Eric looked at her and laughed "what's in it for me going there, I could go and stay pract-"
Before he could finish the girl cut him, "100 gold pieces" she said, silently begging for him to take her. The huntsman stared at her dumbfounded, how she would get 100 gold pieces? Maybe she knew the Duke, he reasoned.
"Alright" he said "I will take you there, in the morning though, the sun is setting and walking in the dark is asking for trouble".
As night slowly descended on them the temperature dropped and cold winds began to blow through the woods. Eric managed to start a fire with some fairly dry wood he found, Snow immediately moved closer to the fire. Snow watched as the huntsman took his shirt off revealing the deep gash in chest from the arrow that had hit him earlier. He chewed up strange looking plant then spit onto his hand to rub onto the wound.
Authors Note:
If any one actually likes this than I will keep going with.